Improvement in machines for filling cartridges



Filling Cartridges.

No. 43,550. Patented Jul y 12. 18.64.

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STOWE & ALLEN.

Filling Cartridges.

Patented July 12-1864.

5 e s s e H H I 3 Shets-Sheet 3. STOWE & ALLEN.

Filling Cartridges.

No. 43,550. I Patented July 12, 1864.

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ilz'inesscs mm T 4 I aw 9 there Sterile n'rsnr thrrrcnr JA MES G STOWE AND EDWIN F. ALLFN, OF- PROVIDENCE, RHQDE ISLAXI), ASSIGNORS 'lO BURNSIDE RIFLE COMPANY, OF SAME-PLACE.

tMPROVEMi-ZNT, IN MACHINES rs surmise CARTREDGES.

' Specification i'olininy, part of Lotti-rs Patent No. 4123,5510, daft-d Jnly'12, [$64.

Figure 1 is a side elevation.- Fig. 2 is an end elevation,

a topview of the cut-oil slides detached. Fig, 5 is aside view-of the same, Fig. 6 is Fig. 3 is a top view.- jFig. 4

side view of the slide andloeking work. Fig. 7 is a side and top View of the pawl and finger.

The machine which is exhibited in the'accompanying drawings consists of the follow- .ing principal parts: First, a'hopper to hold the gunpowder in the mass; second, a charger consisting of a series of chambers with suitable cut-elf slides to'receive the proper quantity of powder from the mass and to deliver it to the cartridgecases; third, a carriage with a table thereon, which is perforated in order to hold the empty cartridge-cases with their mouths upward, which carriage travels with an intermittentunotion underneath the series of charges; fourth, a mechanism to lock the slide which delivers the powder tot-he cases untilthe instant when it is proper that it should be deliverethand, fifth, a mechanism for arrest inig the progressive motion of the carriage and the movement of the charging apparatus as soon as the last- "row of r: \.rtridge-shelishas been filled.v l

The manner in which these several parts are combined together and made to discharge their several fnnetions in-the performance of theresult to be accomplished isas follows;

A A is a rectangular frame of sufiicicnt length to accommodate the, carriage, hereinafter to be described, which holds the sack or table for the empty cartridge-cases. Tothis frame all the working parts are attached. The powder is placed in a mass in the hopper t,.which, with the charger K K, to which it is attached, is

mounted across the top ot'fthe frame A A. The. charger consists of a metallic bar, through which are cylindricalchzunbers arranged in.

loi'lgitudinal rows, incomhinatioirwith a cutoff slide on the top of the bar and a deliveryniidc upon the bottom of the bar, alternately covering and uncovering the apertures. The diameter and depth of each of these chambers determines the quantity of powder which composes a charge. I

" 'Ihe cut-oil anddelivery 'slidcsk k areperforated with cylindrical holes, which correspond in number and in size to the chambers in the charger K, and are op rated to admit the powder to the charger an to deliver it to r the cartridge-cases as follows:-

The crank-shaft D carries a gear-wheel, which communicates motion to the wheelll on the shaft F. Upon this shaft are two o'ccentric-wheels, H H, which, by means of their straps and the rod connected therewith, give, as the shaft revolves, a reciprocatingmotion to the slides J J. able keepers across the ends of the check and delivery slides k k. One of these slides J J has upon its inner face two inclined planes, which, as the slide travels, will strike against projections upon the cut-elf and delivery slides and move them alternately in thedirection for. covering the indu-ths of the, chambers in the.

charger, the inclined planes being so arranged that when the holes int-he cut-oft slide are concentric with the chambers in the charger the spaces between the holes in the delivery-slide will cover the same on the lower side of the charger, and vice versa. Each slide is brought hack-to position by the tension of a sprihg,'m m asshown in Figs. sand 5. i

f The drawing represents the charger as having two rows of holes only. Lit-is evident that a greater numher 1nay be used if. desired,

provided that the mechanism which accommodates the motion of the carriage, presently to he explained, is accommodatedto the number em ployed.

B is a carriage, which travels from front to rear of the machine, directly under the charging apparatus just'described, upon ways, or

' upon a track-rail for the purpose placed upon the top of the frame. This carriage has a table or rack, C, which is perforated with holes, for containing the cartridge-cases, the

holes in each row as well as the rows themselves corresponding in their distances from each other with the chambers in the charg= 'ing' apparatus. This rack or perforated table can be removed at pleasure from the carriage and another be substituted in its place. Upon the upper surface of the carriage, and upon These slides work in suit- 1 number which the charging apparatus is arranged to supply at once. The carriage B has an intermittent progressive movement un-v derneath the charging apparatus, which is derived from. the pawls I I, worked by the eccentrics H H on the shaft F, which derives its motion from the crank-shaft, so that the cartridge-cases, in rows of two at a time, are in this instance successively brought up to the position for being filled directly underneath the chambers in the charger.

As the cutoff and delivery slides and the carriage are bot-h operated by motions derived from the same eccentrics H H, it' follows that their respective movements can always be made to maintain the same relation to each other. Thus during the forward movement of the carriage the cut-0H slide is made to break the connection-between the hopper and the charger, and during the backward movement of the pawls I I the delivery-slide is made to out off the communication between the charger and the rows of cartridgecases directly beneath it.

. It is very important that the lower or delivery slide shall not be opened until the upper or cut-off slide has entirely out off the charger from the hopper, and also that the charges of powder should be delivered to the cartridge-cases upon the instant that the latter have been brought to their proper position directly beneath the charger. This is effected by the use of the counterweighted bell-crank stop Z, Fig. 7, pivoted to the frame at a. The gravity of the heavier arm of this stop causes the shorter arm to be, raised, so that a projecting piece upon the end will, after theslide has been moved to close the lower apertures in the charger, enter a socket in the delivery-slide and prevent the spring M, which otherwise would tend to move the slide in the opposite direction, from acting. The slide is held locked in this position until by the forward movement of the carriage the end of the pawl I strikes against the arm 12 of the stop and overcomes the gravity of the weighted arm. The slide being released, the spring m instantly acts to uncover-the bottom of the charger-chambers, and the powder is delivered to the cartridge-eases, the cutoff slide having previously eut-ofi, as already explained, the connection between the hopper and the charger.

After the last row of cartridge-cases has,

been filled the further movement of the car riage and of the cut-oil" and delivery slides is arrested by the following means: Underneath the pawls I I'are placed upright slides p p,

Fig. 6, which have arms at right angles to their length, so that when these slides are raised the pawls will be lifted by. the arms above the ratchets and ride upon them. These slides are controlled by lovers 0, (same fig"v ure,) pivoted to the frames. The stop-pins it, upon the sides of the earriageand near to the forward end, by the movement of the carriage, bear against the under faces of these levers, which are made inclined for the pur pose, and raise them high enough to lift the pawls from the'ratchets. At the same time spring catches q, operated by the spiral spring 1-, are allowed'to enter notches. in the upright slides p p and maintain them in their raised position. The upper ends also of the slides p p enter notches in the slides J J,

which actuate the cut-off and delivery slides k r, and all movement of. the parts is thereby arrested. The table or rack containing the charged cartridges can now be removed and another rack with empty cases be, substituted in its place. The carriage can then be drawn toward the forward end of'themachine,-and in so doing the stops 8 s on the sides of the carriage and near its :rear end willcome in contact with the spring-catches q, withdraw them from the recesses in which they had entered in the upright slides 12 p, when'the slides are permitted to fall, the pawls are re-engaged with the teeth of the ratchet, the cut-off and delivery slides k k unlocked,and all theparts in readiness to repeat the operations above described.

We donot limit ourselves to the precise construction and arrangement of the several parts as described, but mean to include all mere fvariations of form, structure, and arrangement accomplishing the same mode of operation by equivalent means.

\Vhat we do claimas of our invention, and

desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A charger having cut-off and delivery slides k k, cont-rolling a series of chargingchambers, operated in the manner substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

2. The mode of operation, substantially as specified, by means of. which the deliveryslide of the charging apparatus isalte'rnately locked and tripped, for the purposes'specified. Y

3. The mode of operation, substantially as specified, by means of which the movement or the carriage B and of the cut-off and delivery. slide of the charger K is arrested at any determined point in the progress of the carriage, for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination of the stops 8 8 with the spring-catchcsq q, substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

JAMES G. STOWE. EDWIN F. ALLEN. \Vitnesses:

B. F. THURSTON, J. l). Tuunsrou. 

